France's Sarkozy wants smaller govt with more women

By Anna Willard
Updated: 8:41 a.m. PT May 7, 2007

PARIS - French president-elect Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to form a streamlined government to push through reforms and wants at least half the cabinet to be women.

Sarkozy won a strong mandate for economic and political change by winning 53.06 percent of votes in Sunday's presidential run-off against 46.94 for Socialist Segolene Royal.

His government line-up is expected to reflect his desire to trim public sector fat and push through change.

"It's the idea of efficiency, the idea of reducing the state and of making savings," said political scientist Paul Bacot of Sciences Po in Lyon.

The government now has an unwieldy 30 ministers. Sarkozy says he will trim the number to 15, beef up some portfolios and replace others with new ones to help him get tough on illegal immigrants and create jobs.

He wants to create a ministry of immigration and national identity. The economic portfolio would be shared between a ministry of public accounts, to oversee spending, and an economic strategy ministry that would focus on jobs and the challenges posed by globalisation.

Francois Fillon, 53, who ran Sarkozy's campaign, is seen as the most likely prime minister. A former social affairs and education minister, he pushed through changes to the pensions system and 35-hour work week.

Labour Minister Jean-Louis Borloo, 56, who heads the small Radical Party, may also have a chance of being prime minister. He has a reputation as a socially conscious politician and is liked by trade unions, which could be useful for Sarkozy when he tries to implement promises to change the labour structure.

Brice Hortefeux, 48, a close advisor to Sarkozy and a former local authorities minister, is tipped to be interior minister. He and Sarkozy have been friends for 30 years.

Xavier Bertrand, 42, a former health minister who has been Sarkozy's campaign spokesman, is mentioned as a possible economic strategy minister.

Ex-prime minister Alain Juppe, 61, could become foreign minister or head the National Assembly, parliament's lower house. Juppe was long a close ally of President Jacques Chirac, with whom Sarkozy has a strained relationship.

LIMITED POOL

Only six members of the government that is departing are female, and the pool of experienced women ministers is limited.

But Sarkozy will hope to avoid a repeat of 1995, when 12 women were promoted to ministerial posts after an election. They were nearly all fired within months for lacking experience.

Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, 60, is the most experienced of the female politicians who support him. She has a reputation for being safe and quietly efficient, and could become foreign minister.

Trade Minister Christine Lagarde is tipped to become the head of the ministry for national accounts. She led France in sensitive world trade talks, and has won Sarkozy's admiration.

Rachida Dati, a 41-year-old lawyer born to Algerian and Moroccan parents, is seen as an obvious choice for the ministry for immigration and national identity.

Valerie Pecresse, 39, the spokesman of Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement, and deputies Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, 33, and Christine Boutin, 63, are seen as possible ministers.

Sarkozy could also turn to prominent members of France's business community such as BNP chairman Michel Pebereau or Areva president Anne Lauvergeon.

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PARIS - French president-elect Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to form a streamlined government to push through reforms and wants at least half the cabinet to be women.

This is ridiculous. He's judging people based on gender instead of merit, achievements, skills, experience, suitableness etc.

Normally gender should not play a role in politics. However Sarkozy thinks at least half of the cabinet should be women, because? Do potential replacement women have better skills, experience, achievements, merit? Are they more suitable? Would they do a better job? Would they govern the country better, make better descisions etc?

He's sadly not taking such important factors into account or barely.

What Sarkozy sees is that women are a minority in the cabinet so it must be bad right? Wrong!

Sarkozy basically says indirectly: "there are too many men in i.e. the cabinet and that is bad. Why? Simply because they are men and there are too many of them."

Let me repeat: Under normal circumstances it's not about gender at all. What matters is who has the best track record, skills, experience etc and is thus the most suitable for positions.

Saying that a proportionatelly smaller amount of women in i.e. the cabinet (or anything else) is per definion bad is rediculous!

If women were able to outperform men (under fair competition without quotas or extra support for one gender) then they would've been more numerous in the cabinet already.

The reality is that more men outperform women with better track records, skills, experience, commitment etc. This all makes them more suitable to govern a country. This is why there are more men in i.e. the cabinet under normal competition.

Having the best capable people govern a country is in the best interest of all citizens. Good outcomes and fortune reduces when less capable people govern.

Sarkozy doesn't look at people (men and women) based on their achievements. He doesn't value people based on their skills, track record, suitability etc.

What he does do is purely cating towards women and think that a smaller amount of women is predefinition bad. This makes him a mangina extraordinaire.

He stabs men deep in the back. People like him hurt everybody in the long term, because they judge people based on gender instead of achievements, skills, suitability and such.